Celebrating Roald Dahl

Today is Roald Dahl day. The comedic genius would have turned 100 today! We have had a long fascination with Dahl so I thought it was appropriate to share J’s summer reading project today since it focused on one of his books.

Roald Dahl wasn’t a big part of my childhood, but J has really taken a liking to his work. I personally love his style and think that he has a marvelous way with kids. Especially in a world where we are focusing so much on science and teaching to tests rather than encouraging a child to explore their creativity, Dahl is an amazingly fresh voice. His stories speak to kids and grab them quickly. He makes the children the heroes and often turns the grown-ups into the villains.

The first book that J ever read by Roald Dahl was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Reading it with her, I realized that it was one I had never read as a child, but the story was one that we both enjoyed together.

When we started getting obsessed with Broadway I introduced J to “Matilda the Musical.” I had to explain the story to her, which then, of course, got her intrigued by the book. She loved it so much that we managed to convince our kids’ book club to read Matilda as well.

Over the summer, she decided to take Dahl’s The Witches with her to summer camp. She fully enjoyed the book and when she was faced with having to do a book report project upon returning to school, she chose The Witches as her book.

The Witches is pure Dahl. As the synopsis says, This is not a fairy-tale. This is about REAL WITCHES. Real witches don’t ride around on broomsticks. They don’t even wear black cloaks and hats. They are vile, cunning, detestable creatures who disguise themselves as nice, ordinary ladies. So how can you tell when you’re face to face with one? Well, if you don’t know yet you’d better find out quickly-because there’s nothing a witch loathes quite as much as children and she’ll wield all kinds of terrifying powers to get rid of them. Ronald Dahl has done it again! Winner of the 1983 Whitbread Award, the judges’ decision was unanimous: “funny, wise, deliciously disgusting, a real book for children. From the first paragraph to the last, we felt we were in the hands of a master.”

J’s project for school was actually to write a picture book version of the novel. She’s never been a huge fan of drawing, but I think she is completely fascinated by Quentin Blake – she notices his work regardless of the author he is illustrating for.

In The Witches, Roald Dahl decided to really focus on the ugly side of witches. Witches have been portrayed in many ways by various authors, but Dahl had a lot of fun making them disgusting, nasty creatures. Who else would think to create witches with such grotesque features?The details of what the witches looked like made for my favorite page in her project.

This story is rather crazy. A young boy and his grandmother wind up in a hotel that happens to also be hosting a witches convention. He accidentally gets himself locked into the room with them and they turn him into a mouse. But it is more than that, they plan to turn ALL children into mice! The young boy and his grandmother turn the tables on them and instead set out to rid the world of witches.

Not everyone is a huge fan of Roald Dahl, but J has certainly gotten a kick out of his work. We love the strength of his young heroes even in the face of some very difficult odds. His work encourages children to think on their toes, to believe in themselves and their power, and to be kind even when those around them haven’t been kind to them. So happy birthday, Mr. Dahl!